What is it about the homeless that breaks my heart? While we all were walking downtown tonight after dinner I decided to hang out in the back by myself and throw the head phones in my ear to think just about that. To my surprise, I couldn't come up with an answer...
Today was an early morning. Waking up at 6 in the morning was a big change than what I am use to. It was much harder because it seems that I can never get to bed at a decent hour knowing that I have to be up early in the morning. Jeff Street was very busy today. It seemed that homeless men and women were walking in and out one after another. To my surprise, we got a little time off and Wyatt and I decided to walk around the neighborhood that is right across the street from the shelter. While we were walking, it came as a surprise to myself on how well the homeless men and women can fit in with the rest of society. These people are hurting deep down inside, they have no where to call home and all they have is what they can carry. But yet, we still couldn't tell who was who. It wasn't until tonight that we got to talk to some of the homeless. If there is anything that gets out of this blog tonight, I would like for you to throw up prayer for all the homeless men and women but two especially:
1-Josh. Walking up 4th street we ran into a guy who couldn't have been much older than myself. He had a long sleeve shirt over his head and was looking for a light. We got to spend some time with him and talk about his life. He has been in Kentucky now for 5 months after coming up from Georgia. His girlfriend kicked him out of her house in Georgia and he had no where to go. He didn't mention how he got to Louisville but Wyatt and I did get to talk to him and help him out a little. While talking to him, he said he hadn't ate all day and had no money in his pocket to get food. Mentioning he would rather have a bag of chips than a light.
2-Paul. This fella was an interesting character. He had just been released from Jail. He had served 8 years in the pen. He talked a lot about his earlier years. How he played basketball in high school and was an McDonalds All-American (I'm not going to lie, the dude looked like he could play). He was 50 years old and all he could talk about was about Christ and becoming a new Christian. Whether he was throwing us for a loop or not is not for I to judge but God above, but the guy knew his scripture. He would refer to Paul in the bible a lot.
There is a lot of hurt in these peoples hearts. Just seeing how these people live their lives does it for me. Prayer is really the best thing for them. Giving them money is just a temporary fix to their problems that they already have. Not saying giving them money is bad, if you feel lead to give someone homeless money than I say do it. But what I have learned over the years with homeless people is getting them the needs is better than a dollar bill. The need that they need above all else is Christ. This goes for everyone. If a billionaire in the USA living in a mansion with every make of car and a different pair of shoes for each day of the year is with out Christ, then him too is homeless. Our home is not here on earth but rather in Heaven!
Tomorrow is the last day that we have at Jeff Street, Pray for the Homeless and the two gentleman but also pray that God breaks us down as a group to where we have to lean on him!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au3EGgISYMc
-JDB
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